The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued guidelines to prevent the use of “dark patterns” on e-commerce platforms in India. These patterns are intended to deceive customers or manipulate their choices, and their use will be considered a violation of consumer rights. Advertisers and sellers will also be subject to these guidelines. The Consumer Protection Act will be enforced, and fines will be imposed for any violations. According to Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh, dark patterns are becoming increasingly prevalent in digital commerce and are used to mislead consumers.
The guidelines that have been notified will ensure that all stakeholders, including buyers, sellers, marketplaces, and regulators, have a clear understanding of what constitutes unfair trading practices. These practices, which are deemed unacceptable under the Consumer Protection Act, will be held accountable.
As per the notification, dark patterns are defined as deceptive design patterns or practices that manipulate user interface or user experience interactions on any platform. These patterns are specifically designed to deceive or mislead users into performing actions that they did not originally intend or desire. By undermining consumer autonomy, decision-making, or choice, these dark patterns impair the user’s ability to make informed decisions.
For example, ‘basket sneaking’ is a dark pattern that involves adding additional items, such as products, services, or charitable donations, to the user’s shopping basket during the checkout process without their consent. This results in the user being charged a higher amount than what they initially intended to pay for the chosen product or service.
The “forced action” dark pattern involves coercing a user to perform an action that necessitates the purchase of additional products, subscription to unrelated services, or sharing of personal information in order to access the product or service they initially intended to buy or subscribe to.